The Biannual Scholarly Journal of Threshold, Volume 14, Number 2 Concessionaire English Literature Society, SBU Managing Director Shahriyar Mansouri (PhD, English Literature) Editor-in-Chief Vafa Keshavarzi (PhD student, English Literature) Editorial Board Literature Saba Sabouri (BA, English Literature) Ensieh Moeinipour (BA, English Literature) Anahit Afjool (BA student, English Literature) Chenour Awlazadeh (MA, English Literature) TEFL Musa Nushi (PhD, TEFL) Cover & Page Layout Vafa Keshavarzi (Cover Photo: Hooriye Khajooee Dehshib) Website Design Maryam Marandi Special Thanks to Dr. Farideh Pourgiv Contributors Maryam Bahrami Nejad Maryam Daghigh Kia Maryam Siahmansouri Hooriye Khajooee Dehshib Shakiba Roya Naderi Marzieh Davari Nezhad Es’haghiShakila Azim ZarinKoob Sina Farajzadeh Somayeh Aali Shiva Rohi Keyhani Fatemeh Zarvasi Zahra Abedzadeh Maryam Ezami Payam Latifi & Hastie Vosough Dannial Saleh Nourani Mohammad Reza Fahimeh Baghery, Mona Sarkheil Ghaemi Advisory Board Jalal Sokhanvar, Prof., Shahid Beheshti University Seyyed Abolghassem Fatemi Jahromi, PhD, Shahid Beheshti University Kian Soheil, PhD, Shahid Beheshti University Shideh Ahmadzadeh Heravi, PhD, Shahid Beheshti University Amir Ali Nojoumian, PhD, Shahid Beheshti University Mohammad Reza Anani Sarab, PhD, Shahid Beheshti University Sara C. Ilkhani, PhD, Shahid Beheshti University Shahriyar Mansouri, PhD, Shahid Beheshti University Musa Nushi, PhD, Shahid Beheshti University Hossein Mollanazar, PhD, Allameh Tabatabaei University Publisher Shahid Beheshti University Publishing House Website http://www.sbu.ac.ir Indexed by noormags.com Address Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Evin, Tehran, Iran Tel.: +982129902486 Email: [email protected] Price 3000 T Submission Guidelines • Threshold welcomes contributions of original (not previously published) works of interest in the disciplines of English Literature, English Language Teaching, Translation Studies and Comparative Studies along with related reports, news, profiles of eminent scholars, book and movie reviews, and creative writings. • The contributors are expected to submit their works for the coming issue no later than 1st of Ordibehesht, 1398. • Prospective authors are invited to submit their materials to the journal E-mail address: [email protected] • The manuscripts are evaluated by editors of each section and at least two referees from the advisory board. • The editors require the following format styles: Informative title Abstract (150-200 words) Keywords (3-5 words) Introduction (500-800 words) Background or review of related literature (1500-2000 words) Methodology (500-700 words) Results and discussion (500-700 words) Notes and references • The name of the author(s) should appear on the first page, with the present affiliation, full address, phone number, and current email address. • Microsoft word 2016 is preferred, using Times New Roman font and the size of 11 with Table of Contents -Editorial 1 Literary Studies - Chenour Awla-Zadeh /The Diversity of Binaries in John Donne's Songs and Sonnets 3 - Rising Out of the Ashes: A Tale of Existential Awakening in Fahrenheit 451/ Maryam Ezami 28 Cinema and Literature - See/ Somayeh Aali 29 - Vafa Keshavarzi: Reading Andrei Tarkovsky's film Nostalghia 32 Interview -An Interview with Mr. Azim Zarin Koob 37 TEFL - Fahimeh Baghery, Mona Sarkheil/ Lyrics Training App Review 46 - Payam Latifi & Hastie Vosough/ Surveying Neo-liberalism in ELT Textbooks: The Case of Solution Series 60 Army of Letters -Poem: Going/Sina Farajzadeh 83 -Poem: The Trembling Seven/Maryam Bahrami Nejad 84 -Poem: Make It Rhyme/Shakiba Es’haghi 85 -Poem: The Interior of a Heart/Shakila Keyhani 88 -Poem: Joyeux’s Diary Entry Maryam Daghigh Kia 89 -Poem: A Malady Curfew/Danial Saleh Nourani 91 -Poem: The Kingdom of Colours/Zahra Abedzadeh 93 -poem: A Brief, Unrequited Love/ Seyyed Ali Mousavi 96 -poem: My Goddess/ Aref Vahidimanesh 97 -poem: Alle Alleine/ Niloofar Rezaee 98 -Short Story: Make It Ryhme/ Shakiba Es’haghi 100 -Short Story: The Confession/Marzieh Davari Nezhad 112 Creative Writing Challenge -I Miss the Dirty Streets/Maryam Siahmansouri 120 -My Intentions Are Simple/Maryam Ezami 121 - IT_/Roya Naderi 122 -A Letter to “My Dear Father”/Mohammad Reza Ghaemi 123 -A Letter to “Mr. Hopemopi” Hooriye Khajooee dehshib 126 Threshelf - Marxism and Literary Criticism By TERRY EAGLETONT/ Nazanin Gharaeenejad 142 Translation Challenge -Next Issue’s Translation Challenge 145 Threshold Editorial I am proud to announce that once again the biannual Scholarly Journal, Threshold, won the first prize in article writing among the other scholarly journals. Thanks to God and hail to our editorial board and contributors. In the present issue, we are honored to have an interview with the esteemed Mr. Azimn Zarin Koob, a well-known poet and Dr. Abdolhosein Zarin koob’s brother who mostly talks about his brother and gives us some precious unique information about him and their childhood memories. The topic for our creative writing challenge in this issue was Hope and Survival which warmly received valuable submissions from different universities. As always, precious literary works of our contributors have made the journal more valuable. Vafa Keshavarzi Editor-in- Chief 1 Threshold 14, Number 1 Literary Studies Threshold The Diversity of Binaries in John Donne's Songs and Sonnets Chenour Awla-Zadeh English Literature, M.A., Shahid Beheshti University Introduction Human could understand a strange phenomenon automatically by applying binary opposition system in his mind. Levi-Strauss argues that because of the structural characteristics of human's mind, binary opposition is a natural process. Accordingly, linguist Stuart Campsall informs that according to structuralism anything that acts to signify meaning can only do so by a process which is similar to symbolism; for example, the meaning will be culturally derived. He explains that Levi-Strauss and Barthes continued to realize that meaning is the result of a complex association of ideas about the thing itself and 3 Threshold 14, Number 1 other ideas that are the thing's cultural opposite, what they called its cultural or binary opposites. In addition, readers have a natural system that is derived by the indigenous culture in producing binary opposites. Furthermore, in his book Teaching as Storytelling, Kieran Egan states that a common way in which we elaborate "our conceptual grasp over empirical phenomena is by first forming such binary opposites and then by mediating between them" (18). Jacques Derrida has expanded the level of discussion and explains that these binary pairs are not equal. According to Derrida, within any particular culture, one side of each binary pair is valued or judged in a more privileged light. He continues by stating that one half of each binary pair is culturally marked by a kind of presence which makes it more valued while its binary opposite is marked by a kind of absence that gives it the less valued part of the binary Threshold pair and exemplifies this by masculinity/femininity binary. Freudian psychoanalytical theory introduces the idea that man has historically been marked by a positive presence whereas the woman has been marked by a negative absence. The mentioned theories provide the reader with a subtle way to analyze and discuss important aspects related to the way texts of all kinds are interpreted and gain meaning. John Donne (1572-1631), who is one of the most remarkable poets of Britain in the 17th century, is considered as the representative and pioneer of metaphysical poets. His works include a variety of genres such as love poems, religious poems, elegies, satires, sermons, and epigrams, among which the poems make noticeable literary achievements. His poetry is different from many of the contemporary poets due to his 5 Threshold 14, Number 1 innovations. His poems break through the traditional constraints and reveal profound philosophy through colloquial language. In addition, Donne is influenced by the binary opposition of his own age and either consciously or unconsciously deconstructs such a thinking mode. This essay aims at revealing binary oppositions in John Donne's Songs and Sonnets. Analysis Binary opposition is deeply embedded within literature as language and paired opposites depend on a relation with adjoining words inside a paradigmatic chain. If one among the paired opposites were removed, the other's precise meaning would be changed. The following binaries are the most common in Donne's Songs and Sonnets: Threshold 1. Self and Other Thomas Docherty in his book John Donne, Undone states that there is a binary of ‘Self’ and ‘Other’ in Donne's poetry, and that Donne configures his self in relation to the other (52). Therefore, the metaphors he uses to represent his beloved can reflect the ways he defines himself. As Docherty claims, the other is the “circumambient environment” containing time and space which is “historically and geographically inhabited” over which Donne struggles to have authority. This “Other of his imagination” is “most frequently characterized as woman”. Docherty states that many critics believe that, for Donne, the other is like an “empty space” into which he pours himself to shape it after his own image. This is manifested in " Valediction: Forbidding Mourning", where the speaker expands his Self (by expanding the 7 Threshold 14, Number 1 circle) to cover greater spaces. This